Spinning frame and similar machines



June 16, 1942- L. M. COTCHETT SPINNING FRAME AND SIMILAR MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Filed Oct. 10, 1941 INVENT padzfl' ATTORNEY.

June 16, 1942. M. COTCHETT SPINNING FRAME AND SIMILAR MACHINE Filed Oct. l0, 1941 3 Sheets-Shae}: 2

r l l INVENTOR 013 June 16, 1942. L. M. COTCHETT SPINNING FRAME AND SIMILAR MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 10, 1941 Patented June 16, 1942 .EJ'NETE SPINNING'FRAME AND SIMILAR MACHINES Louis M. Cotchett, Hingham, Mass, assignor to Saco-Lowell Shops, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Maine Application October 10, 1941, Serial No. 414,501 8 Claims. (on. 57-13?) In spinning, twisting, and other textile machines in which a series of operating elements of the same character are mounted on a horizontal rail for vertical traversing movement, as for example, the ring rail of a spinning or twister frame, some difficulty is experienced with irregular or imeven movements and undue vibrations of the rail. In spinning and twister frames the traversing movement is produced by a builder motion located at the head of the frame and this motion operates through a series of lifter rods which'support'the ring rails at opposite sides of the frame to give the rail a series of rising and falling movements in order to lay consecutive turns of yarn in the proper relation to each other on the yarn packages being built. convenience such machines as those above referred to will usually be hereinafter designated generically as spinning frames and the traversing rail as a ring rail.

An important contributing cause to the irregular or uneven motion just described is the fact that the ring rail is customarily supported on the tops of a series of lifter rods and these rods As the guides for the lifter showing still another embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. is a plan view of certain of the parts shown in Fig. 4.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings the usual spindle railor box rail is shown at 2 and it may be supported in .a fixed position in the'frame in any common or suitable manner. Usually it is bolted rigidly to the sampsons which form the main supporting elements of the entire frame, and

such an arrangement is entirely satisfactory for the purposes of this invention. A line of spindles,, one of which is shown in dotted lines at 3, is

So far as the foregoing features are concerned,

no departure from the usual or customary practice is required by the present invention. The invention does, however, provide a novel supporting means far the ring rail. As shown in rods become worn. naturally the conditions un- 7 .favorable to a steady motion tend to increase.

The present invention is especially concerned with these conditions, and it aims to devise a thoroughly practical solution for the problem presented by them.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation, with some parts in vertical section, showing a spindle structure and a mounting therefor embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of another embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 3 is an angular view showing certain details of the construction shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section,

the drawings, the rail 5 rests on, and is secured to, a series of brackets, one of which is shown at 6, and this bracket embraces a sleeve 1 and is clamped thereon by means of the bolt 8. This sleeve encircles, and slides vertically on, a stationary guide consisting of a rod or bar In, the

sleeve having bushings II and I2 at its upper and lower ends for engaging the surface of the bar, and another bushing 43 immediately beside said rail for the same purpose.

It should be observed that the rod I0 is rigidly supported at both its upper and lower ends, the lower end being mounted in a bracket l3 which is bolted to the lower flange of the stationary spindle rail 2, while the upper end is mounted in a cap I9 bolted tothe channel bar M which forms one of the rigid structural elements of the frame. Also, that the bearing points or areas of the sleeve 1 on the rod ID are spaced widely apart, namely, at the bushings II and 12, while the ring rail is supported on this and similarly mounted sleeves at intermediate points travel.

In the prior artarrangements the ring rail moves from its lowermost position where it is very well guided into an upper position where its immediate support is so far away from the stationary guiding elements for it that any substantial degree of clearance in said guides permits much greater lateral movement of the rail. In the construction provided by this invention, however, the conditions under which the ring rail is guided and supported are always subfore employed and which have been responsible for some, at least, of the. hesitation in the movement of the ring rail at times, are definitely eliminated.

The mounting of the ring rail herein shown and described can be used with any suitable builder motion and a bracket I5 is shown in the drawing clamped on the tube I for cooperation with a builder arm of any common or suitable form.

ning over a pulley 32 positioned closely beside the lifter rod. The band runs to a builder motion of-a type arranged to exert a slow uniform pull on the entire series of flexible bands running to the various lifter rods for the purpose of lifting the ring rail and to control the downward movements of said rail which take place under the influence of gravity.

It will also be evident that while it is convenient and economical to make the guides and I in the forms of the invention above shown from tubing, and that such a tubing-has the further advantage of protecting the ballooning yarn from contact with the guide rods II, nevertheless from the standpoint of smooth operation the guide member need not be made in the form of a tube or sleeve. Fig. 4 shows a construction in which the guiding advantages of this invention are obtained and which is especially adapted for use under conditions such that the guiding member cannot be extended upwardly above the level of the ring rail for any substantial distance. In this form of the invention the bracket 33 corresponds to the brackets -6 and 6' of the constructions above described, but it is elongated vertically to support In twisters it is sometimes desirable traverse the thread guide with the ring rail and this can easily be accomplished in the arrangement shown by mounting the thread board IS on a series of brackets, one of which is shown at H, secured on the upper end of an upright rod I8 which is clamped in a bracket 20 secured -to the guiding tube ,1 by a bolt 2| in essentially the same manner as the parts 6 and cured to the tube.

It is. also preferable at times to shield the spindles and their bobbins from the guide rods and the parts behind them, and thismay be readily accomplished, where desirable, by mounting a plate 23 between the ring rail and the guiding tubes. As shown, the lower edge of this plate is equipped with clips which cooperate with the plate to slide over the upper edge '.of the bar 24 supported in the brackets 25 which are secured tothe box rail 2. The upper edge of the plate 23 is similarly equipped and slidably engages the lower edge of a stationary plate or bat 26 secured to the channel bar l4 previously referred to. The brackets 25 also may be used as supports for separators, if desired.

While it is preferable to have the bearing points of the tube I positioned both above and below the ring rail, this is not always expedient, and in some machines it will be found necessary, or at least desirable, to locate most, or all, of the length of1tlie guide sleeve 1 above or below the rail. Such a construction is entirely satisfactory so long as the guiding areas are spaced widely apart vertically. One such ar-' I5 are serangement is shown in Fig. 2 in which parts corresponding to those shown in Fig. 1 are des-' ignated by the same, but primed, numerals. Here the greater part of the guide sleeve 1' is positioned above the rail 5', the lower bushing l2 being located closely adjacent to the bracket 6' which supports the ring rail, while the other is spaced upwardly from it by a distance ample to produce guiding stability In the particular arrangement shown in Figs. 2 and 3 an unusual lifter mechanism is used comprising an upright arm 30 welded to the lower end portion of the sleeve 1' and having a flexible band 3| secured to its lower end and runa bearing bushing I2", corresponding to that shown at I 2 in Fig. l, and another bushing 43" located in the clamping portion of the bracket 33 close to the rail. These two bushings run on the stationary guide rod I0" and are spaced widely apart vertically by a distance ample for stable guiding operation. A conventional lifter arm is shown at 34 equipped with a roll 35 which, however, instead of acting on the bottom of the usual lifter rod, operates'on the lower flat face of the bracket I5" to impart vertical lifting movement to the guiding and supporting member 33.

While I have herein shown and described preferred embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that minor changes in the construction and arrangement may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention.

This application is a continuation, in part, of

- my copending application Serial No. 335,377,

vertical traversing movement, comprising an upright stationary rod, a vertically elongated guiding member secured rigidly to said rail and extending, at right angles thereto, said member having parts substantially encircling said rod and guided thereon at areas spaced widely apart vertically of the rod where they provide guiding stability for said member and said rail, and means supporting said rod at fixed points both above and below the range of traversing movement of said guiding areas.

2. In a spinning frame, the combinationwith a ring rail, of means supporting said rail for vertical traversing movement comprising an upright stationary rod, a tube secured to'said rail and extending ,at right angles thereto, said tube encircling said rod and being guided thereon at points spaced apart by a considerable distance and located near the opposite ends of said tube, and means supporting said. rod at points both above and below the range of traversing movement of the tube.

3. In a spinning frame, the combination with a ring rail, of means supporting said rail for vertical traversing movement, a tube secured rigidly to said rail and extending for substantial distances both above and below the rail, a vertical rod encircled by said tube and on which it is guided, and means supporting said rod at points both above and below the range of traversing movement of said tube and maintaining it in a stationary position.

4. In a spinning frame, the combination with a ring rail, of means supporting said rail for vertical traversing movement comprising a stationary upright rod, an upright vertically elongated guiding member secured rigidly to said rail, said member having parts embracing said rod and guided thereon at areas spaced widely vertically, one of said areas of guiding engagement being located close to said ring rail and another being widely spaced vertically from said rail by a distance which remains fixed notwithstanding the vertical movements of the rail, and

means supporting said rod at fixed points located both above and below the range of traversing movement of said guiding areas.

5. In a spinning frame, the combination with a ring rail, of means supporting said rail for ertical traversing movement comprising a stationary upright rod, an upright vertically elongated guiding member secured rigidly to said rail, said member having parts embracing said rod at guiding areas spaced widely apart vertically and preventing movement of said guiding member relatively to said rod in all horizontal directions while permitting free vertical movement on the rod during the traverse of the ring rail, one of said areas of guiding engagement being located close to said rail and another being widely spaced vertically therefrom by a distance which remains fixed notwithstanding the vertical movevertical traversing movement comprising a stationary upright guide rod, an upright vertically elongated guiding member secured rigidly to said rail, said member having guiding engagement with said rod at areas spaced widely apart vertically and having parts embracing said rod at said guiding areas preventing movement of said guiding member relatively to said rod in all horizontal directions while permitting free relative movement vertically of said rod and said member during the traverse of the ring rail, one at least of said areas of guiding engagement being widely spaced vertically from the ring rail and another being located closely adjacent thereto, and means supporting said rod at points both above and below the range of traversing movement of said guiding members. v

7. In a spinning frame, the combination with a ring rail, of means supporting said rail for vertical traversing movement, comprising a plurality of vertical guide rods, means supporting said rods rigidly in stationary positions closely adjacent to the ring rail, guiding members secured to said rail and having bearing engagements with said rods at points spaced around the rods, whereby each of said members is supported against horizontal movement relatively to its respective rod but is guided thereon during the-vertical movement of said ring rail, the areas of guiding contact of said members on said respective rods being spaced widely apart vertically and located at distances above and below the rail which remain fixed notwithstanding the vertical movements of the rail. 8. In a spinning frame, the combination with a ring rail, of means supporting said rail for vertical traversing movement, comprising a plurality of rigid upright guide rods mounted closely beside said rail, a plurality of vertically elongated upright guiding members secured rigidly to said rail and running, respectively, on said guide rods, each of said members having guiding engagement with its respective guide rod at areas widely spaced vertically thereof and being laterally supported by such engagement in all horizontal di rections, and means supporting said rods both above and below the range of traversing movement of said members and securing the rods in stationary positions.

LOUIS M. COTCHETT, 

